A closer look at opportunities in North Brisbane’s commercial market

Brisbane’s economic resurgence is brilliant for surrounding areas. Look to the north and regions like Pine Rivers and Moreton Bay are thriving off the back of the city centre’s growth, offering lucrative commercial real estate opportunities to developers and investors who know how to take them.

Similar to the rest of Brisbane demand for quality assets is high while supply is limited – creating challenges in the market. With the right knowledge those difficulties can be easily overcome and the area’s potential can be tapped in to.

Seller have their way in Pine Rivers

Look to the north and regions like Pine Rivers and Moreton Bay are thriving off the back of the city centre’s growth

The commercial market in Pine Rivers and surrounding areas is strongly slanted in favour of sellers. Market conditions have converged to make this so – from the current low cost of borrowing and scarcity of supply to the lack of available vacant land for development.

However, sellers are reluctant to let go of their properties. They hear in the news that capital gains are continuing, they want 20 to 30 per cent more than market value and they’re often happy to hold properties until they get their way.

Clearly this makes things difficult for investors and developers, however, finding quality property in the area is certainly still possible. Look to the less obvious areas and get the right help and your expectations will be easily met and even exceeded in this fast growing area.

North lakes offering huge development potential

There’s little doubt that North Lakes is behind much of the growth occurring in surrounding areas. It’s home to a recently completed business park, as well as a Westfield shopping centre, and has seen several multinational companies move in to establish their offering in the area. Cost Co, Ikea, Kmart and Woolworths to name a few.

This is where a great deal of the development and investment opportunities lie. That’s due to the simple fact that new infrastructure and residential offerings will bring more people; almost 7,000 in Mango Hill alone within the next four years alone if the Queensland Government’s forecasts are correct.

We’re going to see huge growth around Petrie thanks mainly to planned development of a new University.

While commercial real estate supply in the area remains limited, new communities often lack the commercial offerings of more established areas. Knowing where the area is lacking and tailoring your investment and development decisions to fill those need is the best course of action.

Finding the right niche can be difficult, but with the help of an experienced agent who truly understands the area it’s certainly possible.

Here in North lakes and in QLD generally service stations are emerging as quality investments. Occupied by reliable, multinational tenants and offering high yields, they’ve become an increasingly popular class of property – as well as being proof that thinking out of the box when investing can yield impressive results.

Exciting opportunities in future

Limited supply has led to development in more risky areas, such as flood zones, or those with development restrictions. However, in the short term regions like Mango Hill and Rothwell or even Redcliffe will start to experience the flow on benefits from the North Lakes development. When their growth picks up they’re likely to emerge as areas of interest for developers and investors of all classes so getting in early is advisable.

In the longer term we’re going to see huge growth around Petrie thanks mainly to planned development of a new University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) campus. It is expected that the new university will attract as many as 10,000 students by 2020. This will no doubt be a driver behind population growth in the wider Moreton Bay region of roughly 40,000 by 2021.

That growth and these newly developing areas mean opportunities will arise in retail, residential development and more. Looking to the future will ensure that investors and developers can capitalise on the expansion of these exciting areas, creating opportunities rather than waiting for them to present themselves.